My blood parrot fish is sick. Can I use metronidazole to treat it?

Without an image, it is difficult to make detailed recommendations. In general, maintain pristine water quality and chemistry. Monitor for elevated ammonia or nitrite levels and perform partial water changes as needed. Use only conditioned water that is temperature matched to prevent stress or shock. Consider adding in a second antibiotic, such as Kanamycin, to treat gram negative bacterial infection. When treating the tank, be sure to remove the carbon filter insert during treatment.

Thanks for reaching out about Thicket and including photos. Metronidazole is a fairly good broad spectrum antibiotic with some anti-parasitic (flagellates) activity. But no antibiotics treats everything and if the clinical signs are not improving, adding a second antibiotics might be helpful. Monitor environmental temperatures and humidity. Keeping nutritional intact high will also help. Good luck.

Pimafix is an acceptable "natural" antifungal treatment. Melafix is for bacterial infections. Kanamycin, erythromycin or metronidazole are good broad spectrum antibiotics. Fungus Cure (by API) is an excellent antifungal. You can find these medications in the aquarium section of most pet stores or even online. Follow label directions carefully and remove the carbon filter insert during treatment if indicated. The cornerstone of any treatment is to first maintain pristine water quality and stable chemistry.

Since parvovirus causes damage to the intestines and therefore wnables intestinal bacteria to enter the blood stream , your puppy needs to be treated with antibiotics that cover a variety of bacteria (gram positive and gram negative). Metronidazole kills those bacteria and also seems to have a positive effect on the immune system, so it is the antibiotic of choice in parvovirus infections. We always weigh up the advantages (treating the infection) vs the disadvantages (side effects) when prescribing medications, so in this case the advantages outweigh the side effects and Metronidazole is indicated. Your puppy should aslo receive fluids and pain medication. You should also try to feed it very small amounts of wet food very often in order to keep its intestines working. It is usually best to hospitalize the puppy for a few days.

Typically Metronidazole is good for GI infections and sometimes urinate infections. I typically go with Clindamycin for oral infections and Doxycyline for respiratory infections. However your vet can do a bacterial culture to verify what antibiotic will be effective against Avery's bacterial infection. Best wishes and take care.

Thanks for reaching out about your fish. It is good to remember that all these antibiotics are not absorbed systemically through the water, and placing these antibiotics in the water will likely damage your biological filter. Many, many things can cause swim bladder disease, few are bacterial in nature. Therefore antibiotics won't fix the problem. These medicines should only be used after a diagnosis or suspected diagnosis made. Using antibiotics indiscrimantly can create superbugs, with resistance to multiple antibiotics. Good luck.

Make sure the charcoal/carbon is removed from the filter/tank for the duration of treatment or it will remove/absorb the medication. Try using metronidazole and kanamycin. There is metronidazole in the Parasite Guard but it may not be an adequate dose. Monitor water quality and keep nitrates below 20ppm if possible. Use only aged/conditioned water that is temperature an pH matched to reduce or prevent stress. Raise the water temp to the upper limit for Oscars and add a multivitamin. You can soak pellets prior to feeding. If you can find it, use VitaChem (by Boyds). Make sure Tiger is eating a biologically appropriate diet.